You know Keke Palmer — she's a former Nickelodeon star, an actress, amazing singer, and American darling.
Well, Keke took to Instagram yesterday to open up about her childhood and the teasing she had to deal with because of her wholesome image.
"Growing up, I was often teased for being 'wholesome,' the shows I acted on, the fact that I had a bedtime on tour, and even sometimes the way I spoke," she said.
"What I hated most was that people assumed that because of all these things, I somehow hadn’t experienced life," she explained. "I felt constantly challenged on how 'real' I was when it came to the 'Black experience' all because my mom raised me not to wear my hardships."
She also touched upon code-switching, saying, "The reality of wanting to be able to communicate in whatever room I was in stopped me from being able to ever be ONE THING."
Then, Keke delivered a powerful message to her fans about the importance of always staying true to yourself.
"No matter your background, no matter your culture, you are valid because you are. Everyone is not the same, and that doesn’t make anyone more cool or less," she said.
"In fact," she continued, "the only thing that makes a MF lame to me is when they aren’t being TRUE to who THEY are for other people’s acceptance."
"I can never ever be what anyone else wants me to be. I can only be Keke (which is quite all over the place). You should only be you, too!"
